MSI GS63VR STEALTH PRO 15.6" GTX 1060 or MSI GE72MVR APACHE PRO-080

[gengyuntx]

I'm deciding between these two laptops: I don't need to travel with the laptop much so portability is not that big of issue. Two main things that I'm looking at: performance and build quality. I hear great stories about GS build quality and otherwise stories about GE lines. Please offer your opinions if you own one of these two laptops. Would you have liked to switch to the other one instead?

 

MSI GS63VR STEALTH PRO 15.6" GTX 1060

 

MSI GE72MVR APACHE PRO-080

 

Main questions:  How's GE's build quality? Does it feel cheap?

                           How does GS with GTX 1060 handle big titles? 

 

Some details:

1. MSI GS63VR STEALTH PRO 15.6" 

Pros: (i) very portable and with some gaming capabilities

         (ii) looks more professional and simple

Cons: (i)  GTX 1060 (will this run witcher 3 with reasonable settings? what are the outlook 3 years down the road)

          (ii)  Screen @ only 60 hz

          (iii) 15 inch instead of 17 inch

 

2. MSI GE72MVR APACHE PRO-080 17.3"

 

Pros: (i)  GTX 1070 (How much improvements?)

          (ii)  Screen @ only 120 hz (Kind of important, I'm using 120 hz display on my desktop now)

          (iii) 17 inch

Cons: (i) Not so portable 

         (ii) Looks clumsy and too 'gamey' (I'm hinting at build quality. Anyone who could comment)?

[markr54632]

The ge72 hands down between the two. Build quality is pretty bad on both, but the ge series is alot better. The gs63vr build quality and quality control is complete garbage. I have had so many issues with this model it's a running joke with my friends. It has been exchanged several times.

 

Side note if buying either model make sure not to get the bestbuy model. It has an absolutely horrible chimei screen

 

Is there any particular reason you're looking at these two models?

[genexis_x]

Neither are great options

 

Where are you from? Budget? Usage? Any preference on weight and battery life?

[gengyuntx]

14 hours ago, markr54632 said:

The ge72 hands down between the two. Build quality is pretty bad on both, but the ge series is alot better. The gs63vr build quality and quality control is complete garbage. I have had so many issues with this model it's a running joke with my friends. It has been exchanged several times.

 

Side note if buying either model make sure not to get the bestbuy model. It has an absolutely horrible chimei screen

 

Is there any particular reason you're looking at these two models?

Thanks for the input man. I’m looking at a 120 dollars difference on these two models (GE more expensive). Reasons is obvious: most powerful hardware for the money from a respectable brand. Would you mind illustrating the experience on these please?

[markr54632]

I've had a ge63 the little 15 inch brother of the ge72 and gs63. The ge 63 lasted about 6 months and the gs63 is just a pile of crap that has so many issues it's not worth looking at. I've never had the same issue twice, but I've also never exchanged a laptop this many times. It's loud, runs hot, quality control is poor at best. my model has the crappy below sub par chimei display panel. The only thing that is tolerable is the keyboard.

 

There are so many better options for your money. I won't waste any more time ranting, but if you do buy one of these two models buy an extended warrantee and expect to use it.

[genexis_x]

6 hours ago, gengyuntx said:

a respectable brand

Every brand will have good and bad products

[gengyuntx]

Just so to help others to decide for this topic, I got the MSI GS63VR this time. After about a month of usage I really recommend this laptop based on these premises:

 

1. You do NOT primarily rely on only this laptop for gaming or you don’t have crazy high expectations for gaming like I do; I have a primary gaming rig and this is for travel purposes. It will not compromise on anything but I think you can find a better gaming experience with a custom built system or maybe a 2000+ dollar thick/heavy laptop. At 1000 dollar price point I think this is as good as you can get with a mobile gaming solution as of end of 2018. 

 

2. You are somewhat a pc enthusiast. You need to know to reinstall system and work around softwares. 

 

3. You need to be somewhat good at tweaking your own rig. You need to swap the panel; change the hard drives, change the network card perhaps, potentially upgrade the ram. 

 

4. You carry a mouse to use with this laptop. 

 

I did did all of that and this laptop is absolutely the best and here are the reasons. 

 

1. Understated look. I appreciate that this gaming pc is not shouting out : I’m a gamer! I can comfortably bring this to a meeting and say that I’m only using this computer as a working machine and it is believable. (Perhaps even more believable once I say i run CUDA computing on it)

 

2. Thin and light. Way too many gaming laptops that delivers performance are too heavy for travels. I don’t like to sacrifice too much to my gaming experience and I don’t like to carry 6 pounds of hardware when I go out. This is the perfect balance. 

 

3. Having said that it is the perfect balance on weight and performance, I will also say that I got this system for about 970 USD (including tax). Other machines that are so light and powerful at the same time sometimes cost double the amount. 

 

4. It is thin but rigid. The build quality is good. I mean not apple good but I don’t feel shy comparing this to my friends 3000+ USD Alienware. The body is all metal and hard enough. The hinge has enough weight to not feel cheap. The screen wables but not at all feel cheap, It is close to non-wable at all.

 

5. The keyboard by steel series feels good to me. I’m used to cherry mx blue switches or the old MacBook keys and I think this beats the old MacBook keyboard but they could have made each individual key bigger. This is a personal preference though. 

 

Here are the cons: non of them is a deal breaker for me but just for your info. 

 

1. The panel is really bad from the box on my unit. They advertise it to be IPS but this is a cheap TN. Your mileage may vary. I’m willing to bet that this panel cost MSI less than 30 bucks to get. Swap it out and have no problem.

 

2. Touch pad is really bad. Both hardware and software are bad. Software: No easy way to tweak the elan driver. The acceleration software is non-linear ( I bet it looks like a heviside function under the hood). I’m exploring ways to fix this but it’s taking too much time. This shouldn’t happen. Hardware: The touch pad has a little give to it. Press down and shake your finger. It will click without registering anything. Will need to use a mouse. Your 2008 MacBook will have a better touch pad than this. But this is now 2018. Use a mouse.  

 

3. The speakers are not good. I don’t think any laptop have any good speakers, not that I need them to add weight to my system but this is really bad sound quality.  Get a 10 buck speaker from anywhere this would sould equally bad and not as loud. I don’t blame them. They appear to be smaller than your average quarter coin in size. However, to save weight and thickness I choose the bad speaker any day. I have a good pair of headsets. I don’t care. 

 

4. Yes it gets hot but it is one of the best thermal performance in its thin and light class. The thermal is better than Razer and apple when the i9 version was first launched. It never get uncomfortably hot.

 

5. Bloatware. “Why is Norton on here?” — Linus. Reinstall Windows/Manjaro. 

 

I recommend this laptop if top if you know your techs. MSI is not built for people who wants the easiest solutions. It is built for people who enjoy screwing with their products (awkward pun intended). 

 

Have fun. 

[markr54632]

What panel did you end up with?

 

As for the rest of your comments the only thing I can agree with is the keyboard is pretty nice. It is pretty much the only part i haven't had fail yet.

[gengyuntx]

21 hours ago, markr54632 said:

What panel did you end up with?

 

As for the rest of your comments the only thing I can agree with is the keyboard is pretty nice. It is pretty much the only part i haven't had fail yet.

I got a 120 hz ips panel with 94 per cent NTSC coverage off of ebay. Works like a charm-- average about 90 fps in CS-GO, 60 ish fps in Witcher 3 High settings etc. DM me I could send you the link of the panel but I will not vouch for its quality-- this will be a toy for me. Will probably swap out everything but the motherboard/CPU/GPU/Battery/touch pad so it would help me if you let me know what other issues you have met with so I could keep an eye out?

 

Also have you found an aftermarket power supply that is lighter? This is to heavy